Fly Fishing the High Surf

I guess all fishing has its seasons. Those times when fish are hungry
and willing and other times when they seem to have lockjaw, move to
areas that are very difficult to access, or otherwise just seem tough
to get interested in an
artificial lure or fly. In the Northeast, especially New Jersey, it
seems the peak activity for sal****er fish is fairly similar to trout.
May and June being the peak in the spring, a rather dull summer and the
cooler fall temps springing the fish into activity again. Add to that
various migrations of fish either replenishing themselves for spawning
in the spring, or fattening themselves up for the winter in the fall.

I started flyfishing (and for the most part fishing in earnest by any
method) back in 1999. A few years later I had a coworker who was
encouraging me (ok, harassing is closer to the truth) to begin
flyfishing for sal****er fish. So, a couple of years ago, I got (and
still fish with) an entry level 9 wt. outfit. Since then I've been
learning through participation on several sal****er boards, discussing
with other anglers and the local flyshop, and through trial and error.

In a freshwater stream, it's known that a certain rock, or feeding
station, once found, will almost certainly have a good fish nearby.
Sure, hatches come and go, stream temps, flows, time of day, all affect
whether a good fish will be at that station, but sooner or later, if
you caught a fish there once upon a time, the likelihood is that a good
fish will be found upon another visit.

In the sal****er environment, there seems to be a much greater level of
competition. And the energy levels required to sustain those fish we
think of as "game" fish is such that fairly substantial food sources,
ie abundant baitfish... either in size and/or quantity, are required to
get their attention. Antoher phenomenon is that most fish, with the
largest of the predators being the exception, school up for protection
and seccess in predation.

The usual mantra is "find the bait and you'll find the fish". And that
is often a problem for the shorebound angler...though the problem
remains the same for boatfishing, the boat can obviously access much
larger sections of the bays or oceans.... add to that the electronics
that boats typically have and well... you get the picture.

At any rate, experienced surf anglers have been telling me that
for this time of year in NJ, a hard NE wind + rain + bait = bass and
blues.
I've had a tough time casting into stiff NE winds in the past, and have
always shied away from big surf conditions for this reason. So this
year I picked up a TFO 10wt rod, and got a type 7 full sink head and
started to improve my double haul. Far from an expert ( or even an
intermediate ) caster, I'm slowly but surely getting the knack of
punching a large fly into the wind.

Here's a pic from today, and although yesterday evening's conditions
weren't quite that bad, it'll give you an idea (excuse the quality as
it's a cell phone pic):
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/078522.jpg

We had several blitzes of small bass, and bluefish last week in the
westerly winds, and it was very easy flyfishing conditions: the ocean
almost like a lake, bluefish leasurely busting into trapped clouds of
juvenil menhaden (so called "peanut bunker") such that at certain
times, I saw them just sip my fly in rather than slash and cut like
they normally do. I managed my largest blue on a fly... pushing 10
pounds... and for the first time had to think about the connection
between my running line and backing. It held and my arms were sore
after the battle with the toothy bugger.

The weekend was a washout for me, but yesterday I decided to try
hitting the high surf. At Sandy Hook, you have the option of fishing
the bay / river side and I had really set that as my main goal, but
upon arriving I saw a few anglers lined up on the ocean side, along
with lots of bird activity right in wash close to the sand and thought
I might as well give it a go before heading to the river.

After rigging up, I went over the wall and saw a few rods seriously
bent and knew that it was the right decision, and stepping into the
suds saw clouds of peanuts and knew I had a decent shot with the
flyrod.

I was apparently (from talking with other anglers) a bit late for the
all out crazy blitz but still managed to get a couple.

There were some gorillas being pulled in and I hooked one, fought for a
while and got bit off by that one and FOUR others (I had no wire or
bite tippet with me) right in the wash.

I did managed to get one 3-5 lber in though. I don't have a boga or
rapala gripper/scale so it's hard to say. But one thing is for sure,
the
fish fight a lot harder in the big surf, than in the river or even the
calm ocean of last week. Casting into the 15-20mph wind with my full
sink line,
it was a total blast, and I finally got exhausted even though
I know I could have caught more.

But 'tis the season, and now I'm hoping to hit some striped bass,
hopefully bettering my flyrod best of around 10lbs.